| Abstract: | Abstract'Millenarians in the Pennines 1800–1830: Building and Believing Jerusalem'. The legend of the prophet John Wroe and his nineteenth-century millenarian followers remains a cherished part of Pennine folklore. In Ashton-under-Lyne and other mill-towns, Wroe attracted a following committed to his religious direction, living according to the Old Testament Law, and calling themselves 'Israelites'. In the 1820s, the Ashton community constructed an elaborate Sanctuary and four gatehouses, and called their town 'Jerusalem'. Wroe left Ashton in 1831 after sexual allegations; yet his movement persisted for decades. This article presents a new history of Wroe's Israelite sect before 1830, revealing its continuity — in ideas and people — with earlier religious traditions in the region. The phenomenon of a sect believing Ashton could be the New Jerusalem was not the work of one charismatic leader, nor the outcome of economic and religious conditions in one decade; nor were such beliefs a short-lived replacement for old securities. From a newly discovered archive and a range of sources in international and local collections, the buildings, the rites and the regime emergent in 1820s Ashton are shown to be merely the most prominent episode in a larger and more notable regional religious history. Acknowledging the agency available within this movement challenges existing conceptions of millenarianism in the period. |
